Chris Hughton praised Sam Baldock’s man of the match performance as Brighton extend their unbeaten run to 12 games after a hard-fought win against Fulham.

Baldock equalised with a stunning volley and set up fellow striker Glenn Murray with the winner as they take their partnership tally to ten goals in eight games.

David Stockdale made three brilliant diving saves to stop his previous club from increasing the lead and Hughton was equally impressed with the shot-stopper, too.

“I thought Sam not only scored a super goal but had a big hand in the second goal. We were very much reliant on him today and certainly our performance wasn’t at our best,” said Hughton.

“For those who have been here that is as much as David Stockdale has had to work in probably any of our games this season.

“You are going to have those games this season where you are going to have to rely on your goalkeeper doing well and it was one of those today.”

Despite Newcastle’s defeat to Blackburn, Hughton kept his feet firmly on the ground when talks of overtaking them in the league were concerned, as it could have been a different story at the Amex.

He added: “It’s Certainly unexpected for Newcastle to lose. I don’t know why I say that because this is the Championship and any of us that are on good runs can lose a game.

“This was a game we could have lost.”

Slavisa Jokanovic was left to rue missed chances as Fulham lost a one-goal lead at half-time and are left four points outside the play-offs.

Kevin McDonald gave Fulham the lead when the assistant referee judged the ball to be over line and his team continued to challenge the Brighton defence but failed to increase their lead.

The Fulham defence were left dismayed with Murray’s goal as they felt he was offside, but Jokanovic claims he is not in a position to comment.

“I don’t know if the situation was deemed legal or illegal. At the end I am not here to challenge the officials, I am not their coach and I don’t want to complain about the referee,” said the former Yugoslavian international.

“It’s frustrating we didn’t do enough clinically in the first 45 minutes. In the second half I don’t think they have the sensation that they dominated us or make as many chances but in the second-half, the chances they made created two goals for them.

“It’s not a question of the possession of the ball, we created plenty of chances but we didn’t find the net, the only time we did, we pushed it in.”

Fulham dominated the start of the game pressing the Brighton attack and hit the defence on the counter attack.

Sone Aluko thought he was clean through on goal when his effort deflected off Stockdale and rattled the bar but was flagged for offside.

Fulham took the lead in the 19th minute after Stefan Johansen’s corner found Kevin McDonald whose headed effort was judged to be over the line by the assistant referee.

Stockdale made two stunning saves in quick succession, with the first from a deflected Floyd Ayite strike and the second from Scott Malone.

A poor clearance from a corner from Tomas Kalas cost Fulham their lead as his header found Baldock at the edge of the box and he struck a stunning volley past keeper David Button.

Baldock then turned supplier when he picked the ball on the left wing and found Murray unmarked in the box to give his side all three points.

Read more on Fulham each week in The Football League Paper.